Disk flexing and installing apparatus



March 11, 1952 J. P. LANNEN DISK FLEXING AND INSTALLING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 12, 1951 INVENTOR.

JOSEPH P. LANNEN FATTORNEY Patented Mar. 11, 1952 DISK FLEXING AND INSTALLING APPARATUS Joseph P. Lannen, Detroit, Mich assignor to Micro-Poise Engineering and Sales Company, Detroit, .Mich., a partnership Application January 12, 1951, Serial No. 205,755

This invention relates to disk flexing and installing apparatus and particularly apparatus for installing transparent disks in bezels of measuring or other frames.

An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus wherein a flexible disk maybe pressed to a dished form, and which will maintain such form during transfer of the disk to a bezel or other frame designed to permanently receive the disk.

Another object'is to adapt such an apparatus to accurately mount the bezel of an instrument or frame so as to greatly facilitate 'atra'nsfer from the apparatus to such bezel of a dished disk.

These and various other objects are attained by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of my improved apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a diametrica'l sectional elevation of the apparatus, taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and showing an initial use position of its movable parts, and showing the presser head of a plunger press in operative relation to the apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a diametrical section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and showing an instrument applied to the apparatus, preliminary to transferring a dished disk from the apparatus to a bezelof the instrument.

In these views, the reference character .I designates a base consisting of a plate having arelatively thick circular central portion "2 formed with a marginal upstanding wall-forming annulus 3. The upper edge of said annulus is beveled to impart a slight downward inclination from the A collar outer to the inner face of the annulus. 4 is exteriorly .applied to said annulus and thickened portion and thus guided in predetermined sliding and rotary movements, such collar carrying a pair of opposed outwardly projecting handles 5 for applying these movements. Said collar is formed with three equidistant feet 6 as downward projections from its lower edge, and in one rotational position of the collar such feet register with sockets 1 in an underlying portion of the base. In such position, the collar may assume its lowered position shown in Fig. 2, being firmly seated on the base in such position and said sockets receiving the described feet. In its posi-' tion appearing in Fig. 3, the collar has been raised to withdraw its feet from the sockets, and has been rotated to space the feet circumerentially from the sockets, the collar being elevated by the feet a predetermined distance above the base. Thus it is evident that said feet form 37 Claims. (Cl. 29-2l0") spacer elements, effective in the last-described position of the collar to space the latter above the base. Limits of rotative collar travel are established by a pair of pins 8, rigidly upstanding from the base and engageable by one of :the handles 5.

The described collar has its upper marginal portion reduced in thickness to form a rim 9 and 'an annular upwardly facing seat 9a, exteriorly of the collar, which seat may receive a ring I0, preferably of rectangular cross section. has an interior upper portion overhanging said rim and having an interior diameter such as to quite accurately center a transparent, resilient plastic disk 1| at the-axis of the flange 3 when seated on such flange as per Fig. 2. This diameter exceeds the internal diameter of the collar to a slight predetermined extent.

In use of the describedapparatus, the same is centered beneath the p1unger I2 of a suitable press, and a presser head is on the plunger is lowered against 'said disk sufficiently to conform the disk to a spherically convex bottom face I3a of said head. The diameter of the disk in its resulting dished form is reduced just enough to permit a Jshiftingof the collar 4 to its raised position shown in Fig. 3, the presser head being held down during such shifting. The rim portion of the collar now extends sufiiciently above the annulus 3 to confine the dished disk, and the .by the collar from material expansion. operator now removes the ring 10 from its seat presser head may be raised Without material flattening of the disk, the latter being restrained The .on the $011341 and replaces it by the .bezel M of an instrument [5 requiring installation of the dished disk. Said bezel is formed with an annular step l6, being thus adapted to fit to some extent around the rim 9, while seating thereon and centered thereby. The inner circumferential face of the bezel registers precisely with the interior face of the collar 4 and such face is formed with a shallow annular groove l1. A ter rotating the collar l to register its feet with the sockets 1, the operator now lowers the presser head, applying it to the instrument l5 and thus forcing the collar to its lowered position. As such position is reached, the groove I! registers with the periphery of the disk I l and the latter expansively snaps into said groove.

The described apparatus, while quite simple and inexpensive, permits a quite rapid shaping of flat plastic disks to dished form and installation of the shaped disks in a bezel or the like.

The instrument shown in Fig. 3 at I5 is 21.

Such r'ring universal level, having a liquid chamber l8 and a. glass cover plate [9 for such chamber. In such instrument the disk H serves to lock the plate IS in place and also protects such plate from damage. The protective nature of the disk results primarily from its dished form, since this prevents direct transmission of any impact from the plastic disk to the plate. The fact is emphasized, however, that the described apparatus is by no means limited to disk installation in any certain instrument or other structure.

A primary advantage of the described apparatus is its solution of the problem of inserting a disk in a bezel to which the disk has access only from the front of the instrument equipped with the bezel. This is a far more difficult matter than installing the disk by merely inserting it in place through the body of the instrument or otherwise through the frame of the bezel.

What I claim is:

1. A disk flexing and installing apparatus, comprising a base, an annulus rigidly upstanding from the base and having a diskseating rim, a collar exteriorly applied to said annulus and adapted for both rotative and vertical travel on the annulus, the base having a portion underlying and forming a seat for the collar, said collar and underlying portion having a plurality of circumferentially spaced spacer elements formed on one thereof and an equal number of similarly spaced sockets formed in the other thereof, the sockets receiving said elements in a predetermined rotative and lowered position of the collar, and said elements being spaced circumferentially from the sockets in a predetermined rotative and raised position of the collar, means on the collar for actuating it rotatively and vertically, and a ring removably surmounting the collar and having an interior face coaxial with the collar and of slightly greater diameter than the interior face of the collar, said ring extending substantially above the annulus, in the lowered position of the collar to confine a disk seated on the annulus during downward flexure of the disk, the raised position of the collar serving to maintain such flexure of the disk, upon removal of said ring from the collar.

2. A disk flexing and installing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, said spacer elements projecting rigidly downwardly from the collar and the base having said sockets.

3. In a disk flexing and installing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, a pair of stops spaced circumferentially of the collar, and fixed in relation to the annulus, and means on the collar engageable with such stops to establish limiting positions, one registering said spacer elements with sockets and the other circumferentially spacing the spacer elements from the sockets.

4. In a disk flexing and installing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, said means for actuating the collar being a handle outwardly projecting from the collar, a pair of pins upstanding from the base and circumferentially spaced for engagement by the handle in limiting rotative positions of the collar, one such position registering the spacer elements with the sockets, and the other disposing said'elements between the sockets.

5. A disk flexing and installing apparatus, comprising a base, an annulus rigidly upstanding from the base and having at its top a diskseating rim, a collar vertically slidable on the annulus exteriorly of the annulus, the base having a portion underlying and forming a seat for the collar, means for establishing either a raised or lowered seated position of the collar on said underlying portion, and a ring removably surmounting the collar and having an intereior face coaxial with the collar and of slightly greater diameter than the interior face of the collar, said ring extending substantially above the annulus in the lowered position of the collar to confine a disk seated on the annulus during downward flexure of the disk, the raised position of the collar serving to maintain such flexure of the disk, upon removal of the ring from the collar.

6. A disk flexing and installing apparatus as set forth in claim 5, the disk-seating rim of the annulus being downwardly inclined toward the axis of the annulus to conform to the flexed disk.

7. A disk flexing and installing apparatus as set forth in claim 5, the collar being formed in its upper portion with an exterior annular shoulder to said ring.

JOSEPH P. LANNEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

